{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

Log in to Manage yourProfile and Account

VA inquiry moving from access to quality of care

The VA has failed to address concerns about patient care thus far in its inquiry into the veterans’ medical system, an independent federal investigator wrote to President Barack Obama. It’s an oversight, she said, that the organization has fallen prey to time and time again.
In a scathing letter, Carolyn N. Lerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel, wrote: “The recent revelations from Phoenix are the latest and most serious in the years-long pattern of disclosures from VA whistleblowers and their struggle to overcome a culture of non-responsiveness. Too frequently, the VA has failed to use information from whistle blowers to identify and address systemic concerns that impact patient care.”
Lerner’s comments come as the VA Inspector General has, thus far, narrowly investigated claims. It has focused on access to care though whistleblowers levied have a range of allegations, including that patients have died unnecessarily or received poor treatment.
In response to Lerner’s letter, written to President Obama, VA Acting Secretary Sloan Gibson launched a more wide-ranging review. He said he was “deeply disappointed” in his own agency’s failure to take the complaints seriously.
So far, investigators have validated allegations that some hospitals have created secret waitlists to mask how long veterans waited for appointments. It also found that 56,000 veterans waited more than 90 days to be seen. In response, the VA has reached out to 70,000 veterans to try to get them appointments.
The agency undertook a system-wide review of wait times and published an “access audit.” But it has not yet addressed serious claims about patient treatment.
In her letter, Lerner said the Office of Special Counsel has received 50 pending whistleblower cases, “all of which allege threats to patient health and safety.” She has referred another 29 cases for investigation.
She wrote: “I remain concerned about the Department’s willingness to acknowledge and address the impact these problems may have on the health and safety of veterans. The VA,and particularly the VA’s Office of the Medical Inspector (OMI),has consistently used a “harmless error” defense, where the Department acknowledges problems but claims patient care is unaffected.
This approach has prevented the VA from acknowledging the severity of systemic problems and from taking the necessary steps to provide quality care to veterans. As a result, veterans’ health and safety has been unnecessarily put at risk.”